EBO: Resume - Prologue
May 14th, 2026 A red and black motorcycle rides along the empty roads of a forest. Faint whirring can be heard as the bike makes its way down the path, no one to be seen for miles. Then, the path ascends to merge onto a freeway, where dozens upon dozens of vehicles drive along the virtual roads. The bike swiftly maneuvers its way through the lanes of the highway, approaching a group of black SUVs with a few motorcyclists surrounding them, all wearing black armor. Quietly, the bike maintains its speed and follows the envoy, where its rider equips to his waist a strange belt buckle. A silver band wraps around the rider’s waist, keeping the buckle in place as the rider grabs a cartridge from his pocket, and aims the cartridge at the SUVs ahead of him. He mimics the firing of a gun with this cartridge, pressing a button that causes an voice to proclaim “Sniping Specter!” out of nowhere. After transferring the cartridge to his right hand and spinning it around, our rider says one thing before inserting the trinket into his belt buckle. “Let's go,” The insertion of the object projects a spinning ring of pictures depicting a selection of chibi armors that gradually slows down. Our rider mimics firing a finger gun at the picture of a sinister-looking, skull-faced mask in black and white. Selecting this portrait results in the remaining profiles to bounce and fade away as the ring glows a dark red. A bulky white armor envelops the rider, followed immediately by the rider flipping the lever on his belt buckle to the right while stating, “Daini Senjutsu.” The belt announces “Level Up!” as a screen is projected in front of the bike. Riding through the screen causes the bulky armor to eject in components, while the larger facemask of the previous armor instead rotates to become the back armor of our rider. It’s here that the SUVs ahead notice they’re being tailed by someone. Henchmen roll down the windows on their cars in order to aim out the window and fire at the red-and-black biker. He slows down enough to avoid their projectiles, moving towards the left of the convoy and speeding up. Grabbing one of the motorcyclists’ weapons, the Sniping Specter aims the sub-machine gun in his hand at his enemy’s head, firing a few rounds. The enemy goes tumbling, bike and body, leaving a mess and causing an explosion. From this, he moves forward, emptying the clip of his acquired gun into the side of an SUV before taking hold of the door and ripping it off the vehicle. “Shoot the idiot!” One of the passengers of the SUV exclaims, trying to reach for a gun. “Daisan Senjutsu,” the Specter announces as he activates a red cartridge that announces “Ifrit Slasher!”, closing the belt, inserting the new cartridge, and opening the belt once more. Two screens are projected, the one originally used in the level up and another screen showing flames and two swords crossed over each other. Passing through the screens causes a robotic figure to appear and attach itself to the Specter. A pair of revolvers are holstered on his thighs, red armor plating is equipped to his shoulders and chest, and a flame-like visor appears over his helmet. “What are you waiting for, lose the guy!” Another passenger loads his gun and fires at the Ifrit Specter. The Specter retaliates by using his revolver, firing straight at the heart of one of the passengers. Although slightly off, the projectile hits its target, leaving a hole in the passenger’s chest with smoke and the scent of burnt flesh wafting through the air. Two more trigger pulls on the other two passengers, and the back of this SUV is eliminated. He then aims at the front of the SUV, where the driver is. Another trigger pull, and a fireball melts through the hull of the car and through the head of the driver, leading to the crash of the vehicle. “One down, two to go…” Specter notes, reloading his weapon single-handedly before holstering and maneuvering towards the others. Before the other car can get the chance to prepare itself, Specter fires his weapon into the side of the vehicle; shooting the tires, the driver, and any passengers unfortunate enough to be sitting close to the side where he’s attacking. He rides away from the crashed car, to finish off the remaining SUV after reloading. Removing the red cartridge from his belt, he puts the cartridge into a slot on the revolver, and takes aim. Swirling red energy gathers around the gun in his hand, as he waits for his attack to charge. Cocking the hammer, the rider fires a massive fireball at the last vehicle as the announcement “Ifrit Burst Strike!” is heard. A massive explosion ensues, decimating the SUV and any of the nearby motorcycles. “Mission complete,” Specter tells himself, finding the next exit on the freeway to take before returning to his base of operations. As he enters Shakariki City, he slows down to avoid hitting any civilians, player-controlled or not. Parking outside the front of a building, the Specter cancels his transformation by closing the belt’s lever and removing the cartridges. “You took out the convoy, correct?” The Specter enters his business office, greeted by a man in a silver business suit. “Yeah, it’s done.” The Specter takes a seat at his desk, putting his feet up on the table and reclining in his chair. “I’ll be taking my payment now.” “Here,” The silver-suited man hands over a briefcase, which he opens to reveal stacks of bills. “400k Levs, right here.” “That’s not what we agreed on,” Specter sits back up again. “Sorry, I couldn’t get the full 500k from my associate.” “... Alright then. I’ll take the 400k now. But I want that 100k by tomorrow, or else I start charging interest.” “Understood, Mr. Kasai.” The silver-suited man left the money on Hunter’s desk, walking out the door without another word. “That’s that…” Hunter said to no one in particular, getting up and closing the briefcase. “I need to get this converted. Can't pay rent with a currency that doesn't exist outside this game.” Putting the briefcase in his inventory, Hunter left his building and got on his bike. Just before he could leave, a man and woman approached him. Both appeared to be around his age, and wore black and white clothing as if they were in uniform. “Hello there,” Hunter gave them a slight nod before revving his bike up. “You're Hunter Kasai, correct?” The man said, holding up a badge. “I’m Hideo Yamamoto. My partner and I are with the Hatena Military Police.” “How can I help, officers?” Hunter turned back to Hideo. “We’d like to negotiate a contract with you.” “That so? Send it over, I’ll take a look after I take care of some things.” “Do you mind if we wait here?” “Go ahead, I won't be long.” Hunter drove off on his bike to the nearest bank as the two HMP members entered his office and waited. It wasn't a short drive, the city was relative well organized and compact despite its large size. The buildings were constructed of brown bricks, white windows installed in them to allow occupants to see out of. Asphalt streets lined with concrete sidewalks were the road Hunter drove upon. Metallic lamp posts line the streets in asymmetrical intervals, already glowing with a rather dull light in response to the red sky and setting sun. Street goers walked calmly, in varying attires that suited their tastes. A large circular building can be seen in the distance, where the sounds of people cheering could be faintly made out. Everyone in-game knows this place as one of the many battle arenas where players could fight to their heart's content or watch the gladiatorial combat from safety. The bank in Shakariki city was large, about an eighth of the size of the arena. Upon entering, Hunter was greeted by a well-cleaned tile floor. Red ropes suspended by poles built into the ground dictated the direction of business lines. At this time of day, few people would be in the bank due to reality calling them away from the game, whether to eat and replenish themselves or to deal with chores. Hunter approached the NPC teller, who greeted him with a smile. "Hello sir, how can I help you today?" the NPC brought up a menu for Hunter to interact with. Three options were displayed: Deposit, Withdraw, and Convert. Hunter tapped the third option, and summoned the briefcase from his inventory before placing it on the window. "Oh my, sir. That's a lot of Levs you have there. How much would you like to convert?" "Convert 100,000 Levs into Japanese Yen, and send to my bank account. The remaining Levs, deposit into my in-game balance please." Hunter politely filled out the transaction. "One moment, sir." The teller processed the conversion, transferring about 1 million Yen into Hunter's bank account and depositing the remainder into his in-game balance. "There you are! Is there anything else I can help you with?" "That's all, thank you." Hunter gave the NPC a light smile before walking away. "Have a nice day, sir!" The NPC smiled once more as Hunter returned to his office. "Sorry for the inconvenience, how can I help?" Hunter entered his office to see the officers rummaging through the office, looking around while they waited. Hideo turned around and seated himself at Hunter's desk. "Our higher-ups have requested a contract with you, and they've sent myself and my partner here to negotiate the details," Hideo gestured to his partner. "I'm Kyoka Matsuzaki, a pleasure," Kyoka bowed slightly. "Pleasure's mine," Hunter sat at his desk as Kyoka seated herself by Hideo. "What are your terms?" "You will be employed as a high-level member of the Hatena Military Police, and you'll be working under our Special Crimes unit. My partner and I are being reassigned to this unit as well, which the HMP has recently made to work out the cause of a strange serial murder case that's been occurring this month." "That's all?" "For now, that's all they've told us." "How long is this contract going to be?" "They haven't informed us of a time limit on the contract. For now, we're assuming one year so we can thoroughly investigate." "Year-long... and the pay?" "We pay our high-ranking members at a starting rate of 100,000 Levs a month." "About 1,200,000 Levs for this whole contract then..." "Correct." "Hm... I'll think about it. Can I give my answer tomorrow?" "That should be fine. Your answer is due one week from today, on May 21st." "That's plenty of time. Thank you for your consideration." "No, thank you, Mr. Kasai. We look forward to your answer." Hideo got up from his chair, and left the building with his partner. After the two left, Hunter closed his office for the day and logged out. Today was nothing out of the ordinary for him, but a one-year contract? That was a little odd for him. Perhaps some sleep will help him with his answer...Category:Story Category:Chapter